State school pupils turned off Oxbridge by dramas such as Morse and The History Boys

The portrayal of life in dramas such as Morse and The History Boys are putting
off state school pupils from applying to Oxbridge colleges, claims the new
head of Cambridge admissions.

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John Thaw and Kevin Whately in 'Inspector Morse': The portrayal of life in dramas such as Morse and The History Boys are putting off state school pupils from applying to Oxbridge colleges, claims the new head of Cambridge admissionsPhoto: REX FEATURES

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The History Boys: Dominic Cooper, Sacha Dhawan, James Corden, Andrew Knott and Samuel AndersonPhoto: REX FEATURES

He said that the university was keen to stop teenagers from making "ill-informed decisions" which put them off applying to Cambridge.

He said that the "Alan Bennett-style mythology" tended to give the wrong impression about the type of people that apply to the universities.

He said that the modern film version of the play, which concerns eight schoolboys striving to get into Cambridge or Oxford, was particularly regrettable as it suggested that the 1950s attitudes continued to this day.

"My biggest regret about the film of The History Boys was that it appeared to be set more recently than the play," he said.

"I wouldn't have any problem treating it as simply a good piece of theatre set in the 1950s but the problem is almost the implication that it portrays contemporary reality.

"That's not the case. It's important that we recruit and select the very best students with potential."

He said pressure from Government bodies to recruit more state school students could create unwanted "out-of-nowhere" targets.

He predicted that the proportion of state entrants would rise this year after falling by 0.3 percentage points last year.

He also did not rule out special consideration for teenagers affected by the GCSE marking row when some candidates predicted A* and A at English were awarded a B

He stressed that Cambridge took a much greater interest in AS level results than GCSEs as some pupils "blossom late" or transferred to better sixth forms.

AS levels could be scrapped under reforms mooted by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, but Dr Sewell said they provided "very, very important information".

He added: "The disappearance of meaningful external assessment at the end of Year 12 [lower sixth] would be dangerous."

AS levels protected pupils who had chosen subjects unwisely, and could drop one.